1. The rear facing tethers - I'm not advocating Britax, but I know makes a rear facing tether seat - check www.britax.com. My sister has one and the installation in her Altima is quite nice. I don't know about the makers. (Note my Daughter has a Britax booster seat that is really well made. My son has a Graco that is also well put together and has some really nice features like an access flap for helping to the belt through.)

2. www.epinions.com is a good source for fit and finish for car seats, but no safety data. My gauge has been the number of recalls each manufacturer has had and what these recalls were for. If they took the time to do it right the first time, they probably thought about the safety of it too.

I believe, and I'm not an expert but like you I am an engineer, looking at the restraining arrangements, most car seats are pretty similar. The most important factor is by far correctly installing them and properly adjusting the belts and buckles.

3. Independent mechanic - I saw enough on here to make me think that there were, for lack of a better word, enough bugs in the car to give me pause, and we have run into a few minor ones - the front speakers went and the check engine light came on briefly for the gas cap and the sun roof cover rattles - all fixed by the dealer in a very prompt, courteous and efficient manner. These were more problems that we had with our Corolla but less than my mom had in her Camry and Accord and a LOT less than I had in my Jeep. I wasn't so worried about this particular car because the fellow who had it had meticulous reocrds and a son whoe worked for Volvo NA. BUT I figured $50 bucks to the guy down the road wasn't going to hurt. The car also had 18mos & 18k miles left on the warranty. 50 bucks was cheap insurance. Also spent $10 at Carfax.com to make sure everything was ok.

As to being warned off by the doom and gloom sayers on the board, remember this is a forum for solving problems, so you hear about problems. I may post a message about how we loaded the kids in the car with their wagon and drove up some gorgeous mountain roads and had a picnic lunch at a huge green acres area near us, and I had a HUGE smile on my face as we wove thru twisties and over hills and dips. That NEVER happened in the Corolla!

4. Lunch - be careful what you offer - There's no good (well not great, there is good) BBQ in New Jersey. When I get done, you wouldn't be able to afford a Volvo! LOL

Now lets talk about performance upgrades!

Best regards,

bill